Losing weight fast. Is this normal?

Jackallniry

Hi. I started to change my lifestyle when I peaked at 237 lbs for a 5'7" guy. I started Aug 19, 2013 and 30 days later I am at 218 lbs. A total weight loss of 19 lbs. Where as I ate uncontrollably before I started without any discrimination for any type of food and cooking. Now I eat a lot of salads, no frying, no fatty meat, a lot of chicken and turkey only, and all that really clean stuff a heart doctor would suggest.

My question is I am currently losing about 2-3 lbs every other day. I'm afraid I might be harming my body doing this. I swear I'm not starving myself. I eat small portions many times a day. My exercises are mostly HIIT mixed with weight training for 5 days a week, 1 hour a day.

Has this happened to most of you here? Or is my disease (don't really want to share it right now) taking over my nutritional absorption? my doctor said to lose only 10% of body fat in 6 months. I am more than ahead of schedule I think.

FrnkLft

What is your daily caloric intake? If that's on point, and you're only eating at a supposed deficit of 500 calories a day... then it's probably that disease.

That said, I've heard that rapid weightloss is common for people who are significantly overweight. Is that you? Have you ramped up to all this exercise from doing nothing before? If so you might consider tonning it down to give your body a chance to get conditioned.

At any rate, give a call to your doctor about the disease and explain your situation to be sure.

I didn't drastically change my diet much, but in my first week of dieting again I lost 2 lbs when I would have only expected to have lost 1. At least a first this seems to happen pretty quickly, and I'm not 100% sure why.

StrictlyPro

At your level I'd say you would be ok at up to 4lbs\week but the leaner you get the slower you should go. Also you have to keep in mind that anyone starting out is going to get an initial burst of water weight loss that will skew your avg results in that short of a period. In general you should try to eat as much as you can while getting decent results vs starting out with a huge calorie reduction.

Jackallniry

What is your daily caloric intake? If that's on point, and you're only eating at a supposed deficit of 500 calories a day... then it's probably that disease.

That said, I've heard that rapid weightloss is common for people who are significantly overweight. Is that you? Have you ramped up to all this exercise from doing nothing before? If so you might consider tonning it down to give your body a chance to get conditioned.

At any rate, give a call to your doctor about the disease and explain your situation to be sure.

I didn't drastically change my diet much, but in my first week of dieting again I lost 2 lbs when I would have only expected to have lost 1. At least a first this seems to happen pretty quickly, and I'm not 100% sure why.

I used MFP's guided goal of 1520 net calories. I was meeting the caloric suggestion or go over just a shade. I also don't eat back any deficiency caused by the day's exercise. Now I upped the goal to 2050 and only getting close to that figure most of the time, net, with or without exercise.

Pre-lifestyle change I used to eat probably in excess of 3000 calories a day to maybe 5000 calories. As I have mentioned earlier, I'm only 5'7", and was sedentary.

FrnkLft

What is your daily caloric intake? If that's on point, and you're only eating at a supposed deficit of 500 calories a day... then it's probably that disease.

That said, I've heard that rapid weightloss is common for people who are significantly overweight. Is that you? Have you ramped up to all this exercise from doing nothing before? If so you might consider tonning it down to give your body a chance to get conditioned.

At any rate, give a call to your doctor about the disease and explain your situation to be sure.

I didn't drastically change my diet much, but in my first week of dieting again I lost 2 lbs when I would have only expected to have lost 1. At least a first this seems to happen pretty quickly, and I'm not 100% sure why.

I used MFP's guided goal of 1520 net calories. I was meeting the caloric suggestion or go over just a shade. I also don't eat back any deficiency caused by the day's exercise. Now I upped the goal to 2050 and only getting close to that figure most of the time, net, with or without exercise.

Pre-lifestyle change I used to eat probably in excess of 3000 calories a day to maybe 5000 calories. As I have mentioned earlier, I'm only 5'7", and was sedentary.

Yeah man I'm not going to ask you what your disease thing is, but call that doctor to make sure.

Otherwise you've made a big change and the previous poster says it could be normal. But I can't stress this enough... eat back your burned calories!

Don't be a dope, make sure you're giving your body what it needs to perform. You're trying to get heathier not strain yourself out. Good luck!

I'm 5'4", 150 lbs, 15% BF and loosing 1-1.5 lbs a week eating around 1650 calories a day. I work out 4 times a week, and I leave my *kitten* in the gym everytime. No way I wouldn't eat back my calories, I need them

Jackallniry

At your level I'd say you would be ok at up to 4lbs\week but the leaner you get the slower you should go. Also you have to keep in mind that anyone starting out is going to get an initial burst of water weight loss that will skew your avg results in that short of a period. In general you should try to eat as much as you can while getting decent results vs starting out with a huge calorie reduction.

My doctor said to lose the fat not the muscle so I am doing a lot of light weight training as well to keep me toned. I also recently started with an HIIT approach to weight lifting by doing as much exercises as I can with the most weight I can carry in 15 minutes tops.

I'm afraid of becoming lean. Never been lean my whole life. At my age of late 30's I would look sickly and gaunt even at 190lbs. And according to BMI stats that is still considered overweight.

But I take hope in your words that the weight loss should slow down once I reach a leaner frame.

May I ask how much calories you take in daily with a lean frame and I am guessing an active lifestyle?

Jackallniry

Don't be a dope, make sure you're giving your body what it needs to perform. You're trying to get heathier not strain yourself out. Good luck!

This!

Thanks, man.

StrictlyPro

At your level I'd say you would be ok at up to 4lbs\week but the leaner you get the slower you should go. Also you have to keep in mind that anyone starting out is going to get an initial burst of water weight loss that will skew your avg results in that short of a period. In general you should try to eat as much as you can while getting decent results vs starting out with a huge calorie reduction.

My doctor said to lose the fat not the muscle so I am doing a lot of light weight training as well to keep me toned. I also recently started with an HIIT approach to weight lifting by doing as much exercises as I can with the most weight I can carry in 15 minutes tops.

I'm afraid of becoming lean. Never been lean my whole life. At my age of late 30's I would look sickly and gaunt even at 190lbs. And according to BMI stats that is still considered overweight.

But I take hope in your words that the weight loss should slow down once I reach a leaner frame.

May I ask how much calories you take in daily with a lean frame and I am guessing an active lifestyle?

With my current lifting routine I think my maintenance is probably going to be about 3000, so to bulk would be a bit more and to cut would be a bit less. I didn't start until i was 37, but I have seen my abs and have deadlifted 405, squatted 350, benched 225, and ohped 175. Not crazy high, but not nothing. Don't get caught up in any "guy my age" beliefs slowing you down. Any don't be scared of losing the weight. If you do some proper weight training along the way, you might look a little small at sub 15% bodyfat, but you won't look sickly. You will basically look like a high schooler who lifts but doesn't eat enough to grow beyond noob gains.